Transportation of logs from their place of cutting to mills where they are processed into intermediate and final products is done primarily with logging trucks. In many areas of the country, during logging season, logging trucks run on narrow two-lane highways. The frequent encounters between logging trucks and other vehicles provide ample opportunity for accidents, particularly harmful accidents.
The loads carried by these trucks are often limited by regulatory agencies on order to reduce the wear and tear on highways. Often, these regulations are set forth in terms of the loaded weight per tire of the logging truck. While this type of regulation is certainly desirable from the standpoint of maintaining our nation's highways and reducing maintenance costs, it is a barrier to the logging industry's need to transport as large a load as possible in order to minimize the number of trips and reduce fuel and maintenance costs. The number of trips required to transport a given number of logs is a factor that contributes to the overall cost of converting raw timber into intermediate and finished products.
It is desirable to make available to the logging industry as well as other industries that often transport elongate elements a vehicle capable of carrying increased loads within the regulatory weight-per-tire limitations established by the highway agencies. By increasing the payload of logging trucks, fewer trips would be required to transport a given number of logs, which would mean fewer encounters with passenger cars, thus reducing the likelihood of harmful accidents. Also, fewer trips would mean less wear and tear on the nation's highways as well as reduced fuel and maintenance costs for the logging companies, savings that could be passed onto the general public.
In addition to satisfying the regulatory agency's requirements and carrying increased loads, it is desirable to provide such a vehicle that has handling and turning characteristics that are comparable to, if not better than, existing trucks for carrying elongate elements such as logs. It would also be desirable to provide such a vehicle that could be retrofitted or used with existing truck-trailer combinations. Such a vehicle would have application in the logging industry as well as application in other industries that require the transportation of elongate objects.